The third book completes the collection Op. 67, which Max Reger wrote between 1900 and 1902. Nos. 36 to 52 gather widely sung hymns such as “Vater unser im Himmelreich”, “Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her”, “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” and “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern”. As Bach did, Reger gives each prelude its own characteristic figure: extreme leaps in the pedal, diminished sevenths and tritones, in “Valet will ich dir geben”, canonic treatment of the cantus firmus in “Jesus ist kommen”. “Wer nun den lieben Gott läßt walten” appears twice in succession, once for solemn hymns and once for hymns of joyful content – the collection was intended for everyday use in the service.
The Suite in G minor for Organ Op. 92, Reger’s second organ suite, leads a curiously shadowy existence within his organ output; the composer himself says little about its origins or background. It brought his extremely productive creative period for the organ to a close for the time being, and only Op. 127 resumed it. In time it falls within a phase of great strain: travels, trouble at the Akademie der Tonkunst in Munich, which he eventually left, and ever more frequent illness. To this was added the death of his father on 28 September 1906 – perhaps an explanation for the melancholy mood of the work.
That Op. 92 appeared both as a single volume and in seven separate editions shows that Reger conceived the work as a whole, yet that its movements, like the earlier collections of character pieces, could also be played individually. Prelude and Fugue are followed by Intermezzo, Basso ostinato, Romance, Toccata and a second Fugue. Reviews were sparse and ranged from calling it the goal of his artistic struggle to dismissing it as disjointed fragments of deliberately ugly harmony; Martin Schmeding considers both judgements wild exaggerations in the booklet. In its formally and technically purified manner the suite rounds off the many cycles of the Munich years and already points ahead to the miniatures of Op. 129.
On 11 January 1901 Reger came across an appeal in the Weidener Anzeiger for a foundation to mark the 80th birthday of Prince Regent Luitpold – possibly the occasion for the Variations and Fugue on “Heil, unserm König Heil!” for Organ WoO IV/7 on the latter’s unofficial anthem. Five days after Reger had written his double bar, Queen Victoria of England died; his former teacher Adalbert Lindner later linked the piece with the English royal house, and Reger himself circulated it with the remark that it was suitable for use at royal festivities. He had engaged with variation form before, but here combined it with a fugue for the first time – a pioneering act of which he was well aware.
The eighth volume was recorded from 8 to 10 May 2015 in the Evangelische Kirche in Essen-Werden, often at night, because background noise outside would have interfered during the day. On one occasion a neighbour, hearing the same passages endlessly repeated at three in the morning, felt not merely disturbed but threatened and called the police; Hans Winking, a former WDR editor who accompanied the Essen sessions, opened the door to the officers and explained to them how a music recording comes about. For Martin Schmeding, working at night has its appeal despite all the adversities: one has the church interiors, otherwise shared with many others, entirely to oneself. Among the qualities for which he chose this instrument for Reger are the free reeds of the Walcker organ, the Clarinette and the Cor anglais.